Enriched categories and models for spaces of dipaths

Abstract

Partially ordered sets, causets, partially ordered spaces and their local counterparts are now often used to model systems in computer science and theoretical physics. The order models `time' which is often not globally given. In this setting directed paths are important objects of study as they correspond to an evolving state or particle traversing the system. Many physical problems rely on the analysis of models of the path space of space-time manifold. Many problems in concurrent systems use `spaces' of paths in a system. Here we review some ideas from algebraic topology that suggest how to model the dipath space of a pospace by a simplicially enriched category.